October 2009 will be remembered as one the coldest Octobers on record along with one of the wettest. The average temperature across the area for October ranged from 38 to 42 degrees which was from 6 to 9 degrees below normal. Every location had one of their top five coldest Octobers on record. Kennebec set their all-time coldest October on record with 41.6 degrees breaking the previous record by almost one degree. The previous record for Kennebec was 42.5 degrees set in the 1917 and 2002. The average daily high temperatures across the area were well below normal, anywhere from 11 to nearly 15 degrees below normal for the month. Pierre, Sisseton, Timber Lake, and Mobridge all had their second coldest Octobers on record. Wheaton had their third coldest October while Aberdeen and Watertown had their fourth coldest October on record.

October was also a very wet month with precipitation amounts ranging from 3 to over 7 inches across the region. These precipitation amounts were anywhere from 1 to over 5 inches above normal with several monthly precipitation records broken across northeast South Dakota and west central Minnesota.Browns Valley, Minnesota received 7.36 inches of precipitation for October breaking the old record of 5.73 inches in 1998 by 1.63 inches.